Mystery Seats at the Met

How come ABT/the Opera House can't tell you what tickets you are buying before you shell out $80 per? Neither the website nor the box office could give my husband the exact seat location until he'd finalized the purchase. Even here in the provinces, we know before we buy if we will be (say) in the front, middle, or back of the orchestra. It makes a BIG difference.

Take it from someone who has examined on-line ticketing systems --- if you're going to sell exact seats, you have to give up-to-the-minute information about which seats are and are not sold. You have to do real-time credit card processing.

My experiences in South Florida also are that I know EXACTLY which seat, and going online allows me to select exactly which seats from a seating chart showing all available seats. This is for the Kravis, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, and Jackie Gleason Theatre. The may not be quite as big as venues in NYC, but I have never paid for any seats $80 or $40 without knowing before I say yes the exact location

Treefrog, I think we're all so subservient here in the big city to our cultural icons that we are just thankful to get seats. ;) No, seriously, I don't blame your frustration... I thought for sure you could request orchestra, dress circle, etc.?

After subscriptions are filled, the tickets go out for sale to the general public...and then it's ususally a "best available" but you should have an option to specify which part of the theater...

I'm suprised the box office couldn't tell you what seats were available. They always point it out on the seating chart before I pay.
Online ticketing is pretty tough. I was trying to get tickets for an event just last week, couldn't find anything on line, I was fortunate enough to be close to the theater from work and walked over, got front row seats. Go figure.
It's like the American Express advanced ticket sales, they give you the worst pre-sale seats available, but they use those purchases to gage future sales.

Ticketmaster and Telecharge have no problem telling exactly which seats you're getting for a Broadway show, whether you order by phone or online. With ABT it's an enormous advantage to buy in person at the box office.

Yes, we were surprised the box office couldn't tell us over the phone. It doesn't seem as though it should be different from walking up to the window.

BW, you CAN request orchestra, dress circle, etc. What you won't find out until it's too late to do anything about it is whether those orchestra tickets are right up front, in the exact middle, far to the side, in the very last row, or wherever you do or don't want to be.

What's confusing to me is that last year, when I bought tickets for the Kirov online through the Met's system I was able to pick the seats. Perhaps, because it was the Lincoln Center Festival, it might have been through them and hence a different ticketing system?